Trust
by AFspouse
Summary: When a second breech opens, Marshall Stacker Pentecost assembles a team of top Jaegers and their pilots. Raleigh Becket is placed in charge, and struggles to make the Rangers put the past behind them and work as a team. As he untangles their secrets, he finds himself drawn to Audrey Vaughn, the only person physically able to pilot a Jaeger solo. AU! Eventual RaleighxOC
1. Chapter 1

_A/N- I just wanted to warn everyone ahead of time, this probably isn't like the other Pacific Rim stories. I took a lot of creative license, tweaking parts of the story to fit what I want. I did my best to explain everything, but please let me know if I didn't explain something that I changed in the story. It is definitely a fluffy story, but I hope you still think it's a fun easy read! I love reviews and feedback, so please send the love! (Or the helpful criticisms)_

Raleigh Becket glanced around the Hong Kong shatterdome as he made his way to Marshall Stacker Pentecost's office. He didn't have any idea why he'd been transferred there, or why the Marshall had set up office there. Raleigh had been placed in charge of the Tokyo Shatterdome after his copilot and brother, Yancy, died in their Jaeger five years earlier. He couldn't bring himself to pilot anymore, but he'd been unable to leave the Jaeger program entirely, it was ingrained too deeply in him. The Jaeger Academy would do that to a person. 200 people started in a class, but after the grueling 4 year program, only 10-20 of them would get their own jaegers. The rest were placed in support roles in the program. The school trained them in every facet of the program, making them fit to become engineers, navigational support, or even mechanics.

"Becket." Marshall Stacker Pentecost said, rising from his desk as Raleigh entered the office.

"Marshall." Raleigh said respectfully, sitting in the chair across the desk from Stacker as Stacker took his seat. They sat in silence for a beat before Raleigh leaned forward. "What's going on, sir? Why'd you bring me here?"

The Marshall sighed before answering. "Another breech has opened."

"Shit." Raleigh hissed through his teeth. "Where?"

"About 50 miles from here, middle of the pacific." Stacker said. The first breech was opened close to Alaska, and the largest shatterdome was just off the coast. Now the Hong Kong shatterdome had been built seemingly overnight, and it seemed to be almost twice as large as the Alaskan one.

"We are stationing six jaegers here. The best of the best. We need to keep the Kaiju off of land… and we need to find a way to close the breeches… before they open a third." Stacker told Raleigh. His face was drawn and tired. He'd been burning the candle at both ends since the program was granted seemingly unlimited funds to get the Shatterdome off the ground.

"Which six?" Raleigh asked. He knew the amount of time it took to construct a Jaeger, and there were only two under construction right now, and they were months from completion. Besides, the best of the best weren't wet behind the ears graduates of the Academy.

"I've got some ideas, but I wanted your input. We need to decide and get them mobilized." Stacker told him, handing him a stack of files.

Raleigh thumbed through them. With the exception of Crimson Typhoon he only he knew the pilots and Jaegers by name and reputation, but he kept a close eye on all the active Jaegers and had an idea of which ones he'd want beside him in a fight. "Striker Eureka is a give in." He declared, dropping the file back on the desk. Stacker nodded. "Cherno Alpha, Solar Prophet and Crimson Typhoon." He added.

"The same ones I would've chosen." The Marshall told him, silently urging Raleigh to continue.

"You're bringing Coyote Tango over right? Can't let your pride and joy sit this out." Raleigh asked him noticing the file was absent from the stack. Coyote Tango had been refurbished and upgraded and had been given to Audrey Vaughn, the only pilot that had been able to fly solo with no adverse effects. She was wired differently than the average person. Every recruit that came through the Academy hoped to be the next Audrey Vaughn, especially the ones that didn't have a strong connection to their partners. A strong neural handshake in the drift made a stronger Jaeger. Audrey Vaughn cut that piece out of the equation.

"I was going to leave her in Alaska." Stacker admitted. "She can head the assault there."

Raleigh frowned. "You said you wanted the best. Audrey Vaughn and Coyote Tango can rip the head off a Kaiju and not even break a sweat."

The Marshall nodded in agreement. "There's bad blood between her and some of the other teams." He admitted. "I don't think you can get her to work with some of them."

"So?" Raleigh demanded. "This isn't a fucking party. They need to get over it."

"I don't think it's that easy." The Marshall warned him.

"What happened? They haven't even been stationed in the same shatterdome." Raleigh asked. He could understand if they were on a joint mission that went bad, but he knew they hadn't.

"It's… complicated. If we bring these teams here, you're going to have a challenge getting them to work together."

"I will?" Raleigh asked, not aware that he would be heading the team.

"You will." Stacker knew that the 5 teams Raleigh picked were the best, and would be their best shot, but he thought Raleigh was underestimating how deep the problems ran.

"If they're as good as we think they are, they'll figure out a way to make it work."

Stacker sighed. "You're right. Coyote Tango, Solar Prophet, Cherno Alpha, Crimson Typhoon, Striker Eureka… and Gipsy Danger." He said with a small smile tugging at his lips.

Raleigh perked up at the sound of his old Jaeger's name. "Gipsy is coming out retirement?"

"If her pilot is." Stacker told him.

"I don't have a copilot." Raleigh told him, the idea of getting back inside Gipsy making his stomach churn.

"We'll get you one."

"What if I say no?" Raleigh challenged.

"Becket, you are the best. I need you to lead this team. If we don't figure out a way to close those breeches, it's game over." Stacker told him. He looked Raleigh straight in the eye and asked him, "Would you rather die here, or in a Jaeger?"

* * *

Raleigh watched Striker Eureka being lowered into the shatterdome while Herc and Chuck Hansen, Striker's father/son team of pilots, walked into the large main room of the shatterdome, talking amongst themselves. "That just leaves Coyote Tango." Raleigh told Stacker.

"There was a Cat III off the shore of Anchorage this morning. She was delayed." The Marshall told him, motioning to a news report showing highlights of the fight, the interview with Audrey Vaughn, or more appropriately, an interview with her Ops officer. Audrey walked silently beside him, her pretty face set in a determined expression, as he tried to answer questions, her eyes avoiding direct contact with the reporters. The reporters fired off questions, demanding to know why Coyote Tango was being transferred from Alaska. Finally Audrey stopped in her tracks and grabbed a microphone out of her face. "I'm sorry. I have to go. The others are going to take care of the Kaiju. You will be fine." She announced, her face pleading with the camera. The screen changed to a pleasant news anchor at a desk moving on to the next news event of the day and Raleigh looked at Stacker.

"Not a big talker?" He asked.

"Something like that." The Marshall answered with a small, humorless chuckle. He'd known Audrey since she'd entered the Academy, and he knew she'd always been dedicated to the program and was able to pinpoint her focus, blocking out any and all distractions when she was in the zone. "We'll meet after she gets here."

A couple hours later, Coyote Tango was lowered into the shatterdome and Audrey Vaughn walked in from her helicopter, flanked by members of her crew. Raleigh stood back while the Marshall greeted her and her crew, observing. Audrey stood about 5'7" with an athletic build. Her long straight brown hair was loose from the bun that she had worn in her uniform on the news report and fell past her shoulders. She wore the same determined expression she'd had on television as she listened to Stacker.

After nodding at Stacker, she set off in Raleigh's direction and her face broke into a wide smile. He cocked an eyebrow, confused at the sudden turn around in her mood. Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky, the Cherno Alpha pilots, strode past him and met her with brief hug and he suddenly understood. Audrey and the Kaidonovsky'a more than likely went through the academy together, plus they had run missions together and Raleigh guessed this wasn't a team she had bad blood with. They walked with her towards the hallway Raleigh had been lingering in, stopping to greet him.

"This is Audrey Vaughn." Sasha said bluntly, not one for small talk.

"Raleigh Becket." He said, shaking her hand.

"I know." She admitted with a small smile. "You're kind of a big deal in Alaska." She turned to Sasha and Aleksis. "Is everyone else here?" She asked. The Russians nodded.

"Do they know I'm here?"

"Not yet." Aleksis told her. "We thought we'd make it a surprise." He said with a boyish grin.

"Great, it'll just be one big reunion." Audrey said. Her voice dripped with sarcasm, but her eyes resembled that of a caged animal, with a predator looming overhead.

Sasha began speaking Russian to Audrey, and Raleigh couldn't keep up. He'd chosen to study Chinese in the Academy. Audrey had chosen Russian clearly. Raleigh tried to pull out any words he'd picked up over the course of his career, but the only words he recognized were a string of swear words Audrey spoke in response to whatever Sasha said. Sasha answered her and Audrey nodded. She glanced quickly at Raleigh, before giving an almost imperceptible shake of her head, indicating they shouldn't continue their conversation.

"I heard their bringing Gipsy out of retirement." Audrey said to Raleigh.

"And me with it." He said with a smile and a nod.

She laughed quickly looking at Sasha and Aleksis. "Chuck is going to shit a brick." She said, making them both break into half smiles. Her smile seemed forced, probably due to Raleigh's presence.

"I will show you your room." Sasha said in English, pointing towards the bulkhead door leading to Audrey's small room. Raleigh walked towards his own, next door to Audrey's.

"We gotta meet up in an hour." He told them. "Kind of a welcome to Hong Kong thing." He said with a cockeyed grin.

"More like welcome to the end of the world." Audrey muttered under her breath. Raleigh grinned at her and she gave him a begrudging smile, rolling her eyes.

An hour later the pilots of the six Jaegers sat around a large meeting table. Chuck and Herc Hansen from the Australian shatterdome, Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky from Russia, Anthony Pisano and Ricardo Reiz from Peru, Audrey Vaughn from Alaska, Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang from Tokyo and Raleigh Becket.

"You are here, because you are the best of the best." Marshall Stacker Pentecost began, stopping when Chuck Hansen scoffed, muttering under his breath. "Something wrong Hansen?" Stacker asked. Herc gave his son a 'drop it' look, but Chuck ignored him.

"Becket hasn't piloted a Jaeger in five years, and doesn't even have a copilot, not to mention his Jaeger hasn't seen a fight since he dropped." Chuck began, eliciting a dirty look from much of the table. "And Vaughn…" he began immediately catching her furious gaze. "Well, she doesn't exactly play well with others." He finished.

Raleigh opened his mouth to begin his harsh rebuttal, but was cut off by Audrey's calm even tone.

"If you're as good as you think you are, it shouldn't matter if I play well with you or not. And the only reason you're bitching about Raleigh is because you're afraid that once he gets back in the fight he'll get all your glory, and you'll be second fiddle." She finished with a hint of a vicious smile playing at her lips, staring at Chuck, daring him to come up with a rebuke.

"IF you two are finished." Stacker barked, shooting daggers at the table. Chuck muttered something that resembled an apology to the Marshall, and Audrey looked back down at the leather bound notebook in front of her, detailing the Hong Kong Shatterdome project. She was slowly rotating her chair 180 degrees back and forth, tapping her lips absentmindedly with the end of her pen.

Stacker continued detailing the purpose of the new dome, and the mission. He told them of a new tracking system. The dome was so close to the new breech that they could pinpoint exactly when a Kaiju left the breech and where they were. It would take less than five minutes to sound the alarm and mobilize the Jaegers.

"So, we still don't know how to close the breeches?" Anthony Pisano asked. Audrey stopped moving her chair and sat up, either paying attention to the question or to Pisano.

"Not yet, the scientists are working around the clock to figure it out, we will be…" Stacker said, pausing to find the correct word.

"experimenting?" Raleigh offered.

Stacker nodded, continuing, "Some theories will be tested by the Jaegers. Until then, train. Keep in top form until you get an alarm. No different than the day to day at the other domes. Your first session is with Becket after dinner." Stacker looked from person to person getting a nod of understanding from each of them. "Becket, we're going to start copilot tryouts day after tomorrow." Raleigh nodded, surprised that he was nervous about the possibility of getting back into Gipsy, especially with a stranger. "Dismissed." Penecost told them.

Everyone stood to leave, and Audrey hung back watching everyone leave. She stiffened as people walked past her. "Sorry." Anthony Pisano muttered as he brushed by her, looking at her impassively.

"Excuse me." Ricardo said with a wolfish grin, bumping her shoulder with his. She ignored them, focusing her gaze at the wall in front of her. Chuck hit her other shoulder with his own, knocking her slightly off balance. It was clear to Raleigh they were posturing, making sure Audrey knew they were the big dicks in the room.

Herc approached Audrey swiftly, wrapping her in a bear hug. She put her arms around him, hugging him back. "How ya been?" He asked her with a smile.

"Fine."

"Better than fine from what I hear. Kicking Kaiju ass all up and down the coast?" Herc prodded.

"Something like that." She admitted with a smile. "Aren't you getting a little old for this shit?" She teased.

"Never!" he insisted, puffing his chest out cartoonishly, eliciting the first laugh from Audrey Raleigh had heard.

Chuck poked his head back in the room, looking at his father. "They're doing a check on Striker, you coming?"

"Yeah." Herc called over his shoulder. He kissed the top of Audrey's head and said goodbye, before leaving.

This interaction left Raleigh even more confused than when Stacker first told him that Audrey had issues with some of the other teams. Clearly Chuck had some sort of problem, but Raleigh suspected it had more to do with her possibly upstaging him and Pisano and Ruiz seemed to just be following his lead. If Herc was so close with her, Raleigh didn't think there was any way there could be a rift so huge she couldn't work with them.

* * *

Raleigh wanted to hit his head against the wall after an hour of working with the group of Rangers he'd help assemble. Chuck didn't want to work with Vaughn. The Russians didn't want to work with the Peruvians or the Australians. Vaughn didn't seem to particularly want to work with anyone. The Wei Tang triplets had left the group completely, training on their own in the corner while Raleigh tried once again to start a strategy session.

He moved the model of Striker Eureka on the tabletop map in front of a figure of a Kaiju, and put the Coyote Tango figure on the other side of the model Kaiju, the Cherno Alpha model back in a defensive position. "What would you two do?" Raliegh questioned.

Chuck launched into a one man soliloquy conveniently forgetting to utilize the Coyote Tango asset. Herc sighed at his son.

"Boy, you're going to have to learn to use all the allies you've got." Herc insisted. Herc altered his son's plan to include Coyote Tango, and Raleigh thought he might be getting a breakthrough.

"And you?" Raleigh asked Audrey.

Audrey shrugged her shoulders. "I can't say what I would do. I do what feels right at the time." She said.

"Jesus Christ." Raleigh muttered under his breath. If he was honest with himself, it was the same thing he did in a fight, but he had the sense to fake a plan during these tactical practices. "That's enough for tonight." Raleigh finally said. The groups broke away from the table as if it was on fire, going their separate ways. "Vaughn." Raleigh called to Audrey's retreating back. She stopped, letting everyone else leave the room before she turned around to face him.

"Yeah?" She asked him impatiently.

"You've got to cut that shit out." Raleigh told her, his patience, and his tact gone.

"What shit?"

"Don't play dumb. You're a part of this team so you need to act like it." Raleigh told her.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "And what about the rest of them?"

"Chuck is a glory hound, we both know that. He'll come around, Herc will make sure of that, especially if you do." Raleigh told her. She rolled her eyes and Raleigh's last bit of self-control snapped. "You're a Ranger damnit! Whatever petty bullshit you have with Hansen, you need to put it behind you. I don't give a damn if you two fucked and it ended badly, or if he talked shit about you at the Academy. Grow up, get over it, and do your job."

Audrey smiled sardonically. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about." She spit before turning on her heel.

"Then tell me!" Raleigh shouted at her.

"Don't worry about it. I'll do my job, sir." She said before stepping threw the bulkhead door and throwing it closed behind her.

Raleigh stopped at Marshall Pentecost's office. The Marshall looked up from the computer screen and motioned Raleigh in.

"What is going on with Vaughn and Hansen?" Raleigh asked him, not taking a seat. He didn't want to take up too much of the Marshall's time, but he had to know.

"I warned you…" Stacker began, before Raleigh spoke again.

"I didn't care what happened before because I didn't think it would affect me. But now I can't train them until I know what is going on." Raleigh explained.

"I can't tell you what happened, I'm not even sure what happened." Stacker told him. "Just know that it's bad, and it's not going to go away. We don't need to send six Jaegers after a Kaiju, I'd advise you to figure out a way to keep them apart."

Raleigh shook his head. This secretiveness was piquing his curiosity, and frustrating him to no end.

"If you think you have to know, I'd start with Herc." Stacker offered. "He's about the only one that can talk some sense into that boy, and he's been in his head."

Raleigh nodded, making a mental note to talk to Herc at breakfast.

* * *

Raleigh woke to the sound of a scream, and jolted upright. The time on the clock read 0233. He got his bearings and realized he was hearing Audrey in the next room. Nightmares were nothing special in the Ranger world. They'd all had close calls, but they were disturbing none the less. Raleigh pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants and walked the short distance to Audrey's door. He paused when he heard her faintly say "Chuck" followed shortly by "No." He banged on the door and pushed it open. Audrey was sitting up, have awoken by Raleigh's knock. She looked at him in confusion.

"You were having a nightmare." He explained, not stepping past the doorway.

Her eyes raked quickly over his bare chest, still not speaking.

"You… yelled." He explained further.

"Sorry." She said softly, looking embarrassed. She got out of bed, wearing a black tank top and a pair of shorts. She grabbed a pair of sweatpants identical to Raleigh's off a chair and a couple things from a drawer, before stepping behind a wall to change. He stood where he was, trying to figure out what she was doing. She stepped past him, closing the door behind her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her, trailing behind her.

"I can't go back to sleep right now." She said over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go to the workout room for a while. Sorry for waking you up." She said honestly.

Raleigh paused in the hallway scratching his head, before grabbing a shirt out of his room and following her. He was up now too and he might as well get a workout in too. Audrey had gotten on a treadmill and Raleigh took the one next to hers. They ran in silence, until Raleigh finally spoke. "What's going on with you and Hansen?"

"Nothing." Audrey said, focusing her attention on the wall in front of her.

"It's not nothing." Raleigh insisted.

Audrey stopped her treadmill and turned to look at him. "Please, let this go." She pleaded with him. The first open sign of weakness she'd shown him. He stopped and looked back at her. There were so many emotions running across her face; fear, anger, disgust, guilt. He couldn't keep up.

"Alright." He said to her. It wasn't a lie exactly. He'd leave her alone about it, but he wanted to know what the big secret was.

"Thank you." She said, almost whispering, before turning the treadmill back on, and they ran side by side in comfortable silence.

_A/N Please please review and let me know what you think! I have a majority of the story written, and I'm tweaking each chapter before I post, so it's not too late to change or add anything! I plan on posting every week._


	2. Chapter 2

_Holy feedback, Batman! I wasn't going to post this chapter until later in the week, but with the AMAZING response I got, I just couldn't wait any longer! If this keeps up, I'll keep posting more!_

_I figured it would be good to post a reminder of which Jaegers belonged to which pilots, in case anyone needs a reminder on who's who! Please keep reviewing and alerting the story, it's an amazing feeling knowing people are reading and knowing what parts of the chapter they liked!_

_**Coyote Tango- Audrey Vaughn**_

_**Gipsy Danger- Raleigh Becket & ?**_

_**Solar Prophet- Anthony Pisano & Ricardo Ruiz**_

_**Cherno Alpha- Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky**_

_**Crimson Typhoon- Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang**_

* * *

Raleigh looked around the cafeteria, making a mental note of Herc's position. Once Chuck stepped away, he planned on having a conversation with Herc. He gave Audrey a half wave as he passed her, sitting with her crew. She was nursing a large cup of coffee and a plate of toast and eggs. She returned the wave; not quite meeting his gaze and Raleigh took a seat next to Tendo Choi, the Ops officer for Gipsy. "How's she doing?" Raleigh asked him.

"Almost ready for action." Tendo told him with a grin. "You found a copilot yet?"

"Got some people lined up for tomorrow, hopefully there's a match." Raleigh said an edge of nervousness in his voice.

"Most of the recruits would give their left arm to work with Raleigh Becket; they'll trust you, you've just gotta trust them." Tendo offered to him, trying to reassure him. "Once you've got the neural handshake, everything else will fall into place."

Raleigh nodded, distracted by Chuck leaving his place at a table next to his father. "I'll be back." He said to Tendo, grabbing his coffee and occupying Chuck's now vacant seat.

"Raleigh." Herc said in way of greeting. "I'm sorry about Chuck's crack the other day, he didn't mean anything by it, he's just…"

"Mornin'" Raleigh said waving away Herc's apology. "Don't worry about it. I was hoping I could talk to you."

"Sure."

Raleigh thought for a moment on how to word his question; he decided that blunt was the best route. "What happened with Chuck and Audrey?"

Herc chuckled under his breath. "I wondered how long it would take to get that question." He sat silent for a beat before sighing. "I don't know what happened."

Raleigh was getting really tired of hearing I don't know from everyone. "You must have some idea." Raleigh urged.

"Audrey's father and I were partners. We were the first team in Striker. Her Dad died when she was young, almost the same way as your brother, just pulled out of the cockpit. I kept close eye on her and her Mother, her and Chuck were good friends, like cousins, or even brother and sister."

Raleigh raided an eyebrow in disbelief. He couldn't ever imagine those two being close.

"They joined the Academy together, you know?" Herc asked Raleigh, he continued when Raleigh looked at him as if he'd gone stupid. "They were partners, they were gonna be as good as the Becket brothers." Herc told him with a wink. "Then one day, Chuck tells me that he's getting a new partner and Audrey's on her own. I just… I don't know what caused the drift to shut down between them, but it did." Herc shook his head at the disappointing memory.

"You're in Chuck's head every day. You never saw anything?" Raleigh asked, incredulous.

"You and Yancy never had any secrets between you?" Herc asked him. "You never blocked anything out?"

Raleigh nodded as he began to understand.

"If there's anything there, Chuck's blocking it, and I'm not looking for it. I drift to kick Kaiju ass, not to psychoanalyze my son." Herc said.

"Think it would do any good to ask him?" Raleigh asked, though he was almost positive he knew the answer.

"If you think you can get something out of him I couldn't." Herc challenged.

"I appreciate your time." Raleigh told him as he got up from his seat. He was hoping for some kind of breakthrough, but he wasn't getting anywhere. The Marshall was right, he just need to figure out a way to keep them apart. With six jaegers, that would be easy. If they started losing any, well, hopefully they'd realize that this was bigger than whatever beef they had.

* * *

The alarm sounded just after lunch. The five Jaeger teams scrambled to the command center and faced Raleigh and Stacker, who were speaking quickly. The Ops officers stood at their respective stations, waiting the order to power up their Jaegers. "We have a Cat IV. Coyote Tango and Cherno Alpha on the offensive, and Solar Prophet stay close to the shore as backup." Stacker Pentecost barked.

The pilots began suiting up as the Ops Officers began running the start up on the three Jaegers. "Wait!" Coyote Tango's Ops Officer shouted from behind his computer. "The O2 lines are busted all to shit. Coyote Tango can't go out."

"What?" Audrey yelled, yanking the gloves off her suit and running behind the computer, pulling up system reports and reading quickly. "How the hell did this happen? She was fine last night!" She looked at James Dorian, her Ops Officer, demanding an answer.

A voice came over the loudspeaker in the terminal. "It looks like the lines were cut, then yanked out of the port. This is going to take some time to fix."

"Crimson Typhoon, go." The Marshall barked, before stepping behind the control center for Coyote Tango.

"Marshall, I can still go. I don't need the O2 lines as long as the cockpit doesn't submerge…" Audrey began, before being cut off by Stacker.

"You can't go if you aren't 100% functional. You could die. Sit this one out." Stacker said calmly, his eyes not leaving the screen.

"But…" Audrey began.

"Ranger! Stand down!" Marshall barked at her. Audrey shot daggers at him, before turning her gaze to Anthony Pisano and Ricardo Ruiz, and then to Chuck and Herc Hansen, seeming to want someone to blame. She stormed out of the room, throwing a fist into the wall as she made her way to Cherno Alpha's control center to observe.

"Do you think someone sabotaged Coyote intentionally?" Raleigh asked Stacker, his gaze focused on a very angry Audrey.

"I can't think of any other reason for an O2 line to be destroyed." Stacker said ominously. "But there is a possibility that some idiot mechanic messed up."

"Yeah." Raleigh said calmly, but inside, he was fuming. He stood silently, watching the room buzz with activity as Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha fought against the Kaiju, an eel like creature with a long snout full of teeth similar to a crocodile. After the fight was finally over, Raleigh sidled up to Chuck who didn't seem to be too happy to be on the sidelines. "You wouldn't know anything about Coyote Tango's O2 lines would you?" He half whispered.

"Not a thing." Chuck said coolly. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Vaughn did it herself. She's always loved any attention she could get."

Raleigh took another look at Audrey, who seemed to be biting her lip so hard she might bite through it at any time. He doubted she would do anything to jeopardize her chance to fight, but he didn't know her very well, he supposed at this point anything was possible. "Get everyone into the meeting room after the Jaegers get back." He told Chuck abruptly, leaving the control room before his anger, and confusion got the better of him.

* * *

"Good job out there." Raleigh began, looking at the three teams that had been in the field earlier. They nodded in thanks and Raleigh continued. "Unfortunately, Coyote Tango was sabotaged, and couldn't go out."

He watched everyone's face for some sign of guilt but instead was met with impassive gazes, save for Audrey's menacing expression as she also looked at the other pilots. "I don't know what the hell goes on at the other domes, but we do NOT turn against each other here! I don't give a shit who you are or what your kill rate is, if I find out that anyone touches ANYTHING on someone's Jaeger, you're out." Raleigh ran a hand through his hair as he caught his breath, and composed himself. "We are a team. Start acting like it." He said in a low menacing voice.

He waved his arm to dismiss the group and they began to file out. "I guess you've got Becket fighting your battles now, Vaughn?" Chuck said over his shoulder. Audrey started towards him, but Aleksis and Sasha stood in front of her, forming a nearly immovable wall.

"Let it go." Aleksis told her, ignoring her angry gaze.

Raleigh put a hand on Audrey's shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin, whirling around to face him. "I forgot you were here." She admitted to him.

"I see that." He said, fighting a smile as she recovered from her scare, she clearly didn't like that he'd seen her scared. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he put his hands up in a mock surrender.

"I can fight my own battles." She told Raleigh. "You don't need to protect me."

"I would've given that speech if it was any Jaeger, it just happened to be yours." Raleigh told her. "Do you have any idea who it could have been?"

"Marshall said it could've been a mistake." Audrey said a hint of disdain in her voice. Raleigh gave her a 'get serious' look and she shook her head. "I don't know who it was." She admitted.

"Chuck?" He asked.

She thought seriously for a minute. "I don't think so. Chuck is too busy worrying about himself to think about sabotage."

"We're upping security around the jaegers. If you don't work on it, you don't touch it." Raleigh assured her.

"Good." She said curtly, before changing the subject. "You have tryouts tomorrow don't you?"

"Yep." He said. He'd almost forgotten about them in the chaos of the day. Almost.

She furrowed her brow. "Nervous?" She asked him.

"Nah." He said. "Worried." He admitted after a beat.

"You're Raleigh Becket. You could have a sack of potatoes next to you and still kick ass… Well, as long as the potatoes could drift." Audrey told him.

Raleigh laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." He said with a lazy grin. Raleigh looked at his watch, it was still early. "I'm gonna go practice for tomorrow. Want to help?"

Audrey looked at him warily but nodded.

An hour and a half later, Raleigh and Audrey were both sweating and breathing heavily, standing on the opposite sides of the mat. They had matched each other moves almost completely. Raleigh hadn't had such a matched fight since Yancy.

"Too bad you have your own Jaeger. We'd be a good team." Raleigh told her, before charging towards her again. They exchanged blows, until Audrey slipped, falling to her knees.

"I can't drift." She told him, sweeping a leg around and dropping Raleigh to his back, pinning him with a cocky look.

"You drifted with Chuck." He retorted using his body weight to flip her to her back. They both stood and she looked at him warily.

"How do you know about that?" She demanded.

"Herc."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Figures." She grumbled.

"How'd you figure it out?" Raleigh asked as they both drank from their water bottles.

"Figure what out?"

"That you could pilot without a partner? Seems pretty risky for them to just hope your brain didn't turn to goo after a while."

"I'm just different, it's like if I was double jointed, or had an extra eye or something… It's some kind of mutation. They ran all the tests when I first joined the Academy, but they didn't tell me about it until my last year. They wanted to monitor it without me knowing. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, I didn't have any reason to work by myself."

"Until you couldn't drift with Chuck anymore." Raleigh prompted.

"Until I couldn't drift with anyone anymore." Audrey corrected.

She pulled her black t-shirt off leaving only a sports bra. "It's late." She told him, "I'm going to shower and check on Coyote."

Raleigh swallowed as his eyes grazed over her toned body. He was pretty positive she wanted to distract him from their conversation, and it was working. "Thanks for the help." He told her.

Audrey nodded before leaving Raleigh alone with his thoughts. The training session had lifted his spirits. If he had been able to work so well with Audrey, it shouldn't be difficult to find a copilot tomorrow. That opened a whole new can of worms though, as then he'd be one step closer to getting back into Gipsy.

* * *

Possibility 12 hit the mat in front of Raleigh and he sighed in disgust. No one was lasting more than a couple minutes, and he wasn't impressed. "This isn't good enough." He said to the crowd of remaining hopefuls. He scanned the crowd that had grown to watch the spectacle, picking Audrey from the back where she stood back from the rest of the crowd, observing quietly. He motioned for her, and she walked up, her face impassive.

He threw a bo to her, and she squared herself to him. They began fighting, once again matching each other. The crowd grew silent as they became more intense, the sound of the bo's striking each other the only noise reverberating through the room. Finally Audrey got a strike directly to Raleigh's face, stopping just short of impact, and they both paused. "That's what I need." He said to the crowd, though his eyes didn't leave Audrey's.

Finally she pulled her gaze away, and stepped back, handing the bo to the next potential. "Let's go." Raleigh said, before attacking.

_A/N- Please review and let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in the story! Thanks again for the amazing reviews, alerts and favorites!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Coyote Tango- Audrey Vaughn_

_Gipsy Danger- Raleigh Becket & ?_

_Solar Prophet- Anthony Pisano & Ricardo Ruiz_

_Cherno Alpha- Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky_

_Crimson Typhoon- Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang_

* * *

Raleigh pressed play on the next fight clip between Solar Prophet and a Cat III Kaiju. Part of his job as the leader of the squad of Rangers was to evaluate each team's strategies and offer coaching or even share the better strategies with the rest of the group. However, he knew he was watching the clips to put off making a decision for a new copilot. Stacker had told him to take his time and find the right one, but he wasn't sure if any of the potentials he'd met fit the bill. He'd made a list of ones he wanted to see again, hoping that working with them on another day would show him a clear choice, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. He focused on the fight and brought his fist to his mouth, "oooh!" He cringed, bringing in a sharp uptake of breath. Solar Prophet's pilots had pulled a completely unexpected tactic, and quite literally cut the Kaiju in half. He paged for Anthony Pisano and Ricardo Ruiz to the training room and had them sit down.

"I was watching your fight against Scissure, and I wanted to get into your heads for a minute. That finisher was out of left field." Raleigh said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. They looked at him hesitantly, as if not sure if they were being reprimanded or praised. "It was damn effective, that's for sure; I just wouldn't expect that kind of unpredictability from you."

"It was more of a Becket move." Ricardo said, with a quirky half smile.

"Or a Vaughn move." Anthony added without humor.

"Well, it was all Anthony, I can't take credit." Ricardo told him. Raleigh doubted that. Part of the reason the pilots had to connect so well was because they need to think the same strategies, otherwise the Jaeger would be a mess of flailing limbs; however, Ricardo seemed happy to give the credit to Anthony, so Raleigh didn't see the need to correct them.

"We'd been out there for 6 hours, and we were getting anywhere." Anthony began. He explained that they began timing the Kaiju's different attacks, when it finally whirled around to get a strike with its heavy tail; they had jumped forward and ran their chain sword through it, pulling up and eviscerating it.

"It was impressive." Raleigh admitted. "Sometimes we forget that the playbooks are just a suggestion." The two nodded in agreement and they all sat in thought. "You guys doing alright? You've kinda stood in the background since you got here."

"We went to school with Chuck and Audrey. We learned how to duck." Ricardo said, picking up what Raleigh was really asking.

"What's up with them?" Raleigh asked.

"Who knows?" Anthony said, shrugging though he averted his eyes from Raleigh's. Raleigh sensed he knew more than he was telling, but everyone seemed to know more than they were telling . "Audrey is focused, sometimes too much. She's going to do everything in her power to be the best, and I guess her and Chuck didn't see eye to eye on that." Anthony guessed. "He's not the easiest to compete with."

"She's good at what she does." Ricardo added quickly.

"She wouldn't be here if she wasn't. I just don't know if I'd want her watching my back. She might think my back is worth sacrificing for the kill count." Anthony said quietly. "Her going to Alaska and doing her thing out there was probably the best thing that could have happened. She and the Russians get along so they worked together, and she didn't have to deal with people getting in her way."

"When Chuck said she didn't play well with others, there's a reason she didn't try to dispute it. It's just a fact." Ricardo said bluntly. "Just like it's a fact that Chuck needs a copilot that will let him take the lead, and the glory."

Raleigh nodded, even more confused about what was going on. He dismissed the team and thought for a minute. Pisano and Ruiz hadn't said anything outwardly against Audrey or Chuck, but it was clear whose side they were on. He didn't buy the competitive thing. If they both wanted to be the best, it didn't make sense for them to turn on each other. They would've worked to blow everyone out of the water. After the Academy no one was ranked individually, it was about the team. He shook his head, willing the thoughts away. He didn't need to worry about this shit. As long as they didn't tear each other's throats out and no more Jaegers were mysteriously broken, that was good enough for him. As it was, he got along better with Audrey than Chuck. Audrey was matter of fact, and told you exactly what she thought, if you asked her. Chuck volunteered his opinion when no one wanted it, and seemed to have a disdain for Raleigh simply existing.

Raleigh made his way back to his room, and paused at Audrey's door. He needed a second set of eyes at the callbacks tomorrow, and her straightforwardness would be an asset. He pounded on the door, and heard her yell "What?" in an annoyed tone.

Raleigh opened the door slowly, poking his head through. Audrey was glaring at him, sitting up in her bed, hair rumpled, with a bedside lamp switched on. She was wearing a white spaghetti strap top, and Raleigh wondered if her not getting out of bed meant she wasn't wearing much in way of bottoms. He dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come, as Audrey repeated herself. "What?" She gave him an 'out with it' look.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you'd be asleep already." Raleigh apologized.

"I sleep when I can." She told him, her face starting to lose its edge of annoyance.

"Me too." Raleigh muttered. He'd spent many a sleepless night relieving the pain and fear he felt when Yancy was pulled out of the Gipsy's cockpit. "I'm having some potentials come back tomorrow, gonna put them through their paces again."

"Ok." Audrey said, giving him a questioning look.

"I could use a second set of eyes." He said, a little more hopefully than he would have liked.

"When?"

"After lunch sometime, I need to clear it with The Marshall on when I can have them exactly."

"Come find me and I'll help." She told him, flopping back down on her pillow.

"You sure?" He asked, it had been a little too easy to convince her.

"YES!" She groaned waving her hand, shooing him away without getting back up. Raleigh decided not to do anything stupid like wait for her to change her mind and left, heading to his own room for the night.

* * *

Raleigh wandered around the shatterdome, looking for Audrey after lunch. He'd checked her room, all the training rooms, and the control room. He went through the cafeteria, wondering if she'd had a late lunch but still didn't see her. He was about to page her to the training room he'd signed out when Sasha Kaidonovsky spoke from the other side of the room. "She's in Coyote Tango." She offered. "She told us to let you know if we saw you."

"Thanks." He said, waving at them. He made his way to Coyote Tango, and walked into the elevator, taking it to the cockpit. He walked in and watched in confusion as Audrey and a mechanic stood over the port for the O2 lines talking intently as they soldered a piece of metal. "What are you doing?" He asked her.

"Fixing the lines." She told him, looking as if she wanted to add the word 'duh' to her sentence.

"You know what you're doing?" He teased, backing away when she aimed the soldering gun at him.

She removed her coveralls and protective goggles, leaving her navy blue uniform pants and shirt, her hair pulled into a tight bun. "Ready to crush some dreams?" She asked him, wiping her hands on her pants.

"I wouldn't put it that way." He said with a smirk as they walked into the training room.

"All those people in that room think they're going to work with the great Raleigh Becket. Only one of them gets to. There's gonna be some crying into pillows tonight." She said matter-of-factly.

* * *

After three hours of running through simulators, training exercises, physical training tests, and tactical drills, Raleigh dismissed all the recruits and turned to Audrey, who'd been sitting in the back of the room, staying quiet and thoughtful.

She leafed through the different files as Raleigh grabbed a chair and sat across from her. "What'd you think?" He asked her as she continued to stay silent.

"Honestly?"

"That's why you're here." He reminded her.

"Honestly, I think all of them would hold you back." She said. "They aren't on the same level as you, and they all play it safe." She handed a file to Raleigh. "You gave this one an opening so big you could drive a truck through it and he didn't realize it."

Raleigh fingered the picture of the recruit. She was right; he had remembered being disappointed that the potential hadn't used a leg sweep to knock Raleigh on his ass. It wasn't an officially sanctioned training move, but Raleigh would have taken it and apparently, so would Audrey. "None of them are gonna work." He announced with a deep sigh.

"Can you get a new batch?" Audrey asked him, standing up and putting her hands above her head, stretching her back.

"I can try." Raleigh said thoughtfully, wondering how the Marshall would feel about flying in more potentials. "Any idea who pulled the lines on Coyote?"

Audrey frowned at him. "I have my ideas."

"Care to share?" He prompted.

"Not until I'm sure." She said. "I promise it wasn't me." She said earnestly, looking at him.

"I never thought it was." He said honestly. That Jaeger was like her child, there was no way she'd hurt it.

He lingered in his spot, wanting to keep the conversation going, but not wanting to linger on a touchy subject. "How often do you work on Coyote?"

"As often as I can." She said, grabbing a pull up bar and slowly pulling herself up, then hanging by her elbows, swinging her feet as she spoke. "There was a time that I didn't think I'd ever get to pilot, so I made sure I'd know what I was doing with a wrench." She looked thoughtful and added, "Now if I just sit in the cockpit and don't ever work on it, I don't feel like I can take ownership."

"Makes sense." Raleigh said. "I never really thought of it like that… You really didn't think you'd get your own Jaeger?"

"Why would I? It hadn't been done before. There was no reason to build a Jaeger for me when there were teams that could pilot existing ones." She frowned slightly, swinging her feet faster, almost kicking Raleigh in the stomach. She gave a smirk as he jumped back.

He grabbed at her foot, missing it narrowly and she got him square in the chest a little harder than she intended. He fell backwards dramatically, suppressing a laugh. "Are you hurt?" Audrey asked in an uninterested tone.

"Just my pride." He said mockingly, not getting up.

"Get up." She said, standing over him and kicking his side gently with the toe of her boot. "I don't feel bad for you."

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow sitting up, then wrapping his arms around her knees, he pulled her down as she shrieked, falling on her back next to him. Raleigh leaned over her, a boyish grin on her face. Audrey wrinkled her nose in mock anger, but couldn't hold it for long. She shook her head at him, exasperated, and gave him the smallest of smiles. Raleigh stared into her deep brown eyes, and had to tear himself away, before he leaned in closer. He stood and offered her his hand. She grabbed it and he helped haul her up, their hands lingered and Audrey's eyes searched his face. She looked away and turned towards the door, Raleigh following her.

They both paused when they saw Sasha and Aleksis standing in the entrance of the training room, wearing cocky grins. "We thought we'd get a workout in." Aleksis said.

"We can go." Sasha added.

"We're done." Audrey said quickly, walking past them out into the hallway.

"Uh huh." Aleksis said, cocking an eyebrow at her as she passed.

Raleigh waited until Audrey was out of earshot before he took a shot in the dark with the Russians. "What's the deal with Chuck and Audrey?"

The Kaidonovsky's began speaking Russian to each other lowly as if they were worried Raleigh would understand them. Finally Sasha spoke up. "It's not our story to tell."

Raleigh sighed deeply. "I figured you'd say something like that."

"We were all friends, years ago." Aleksis added. "Top ten." He said in way of explanation.

Raleigh nodded, he knew what Aleksis meant. The top ten ranked at the Academy usually hung out together, kind of like the football players in high school. "What changed?"

"No one changed." Sasha said. "Change might have helped with the problem."

"Well thanks." Raleigh said, waving. "You've been… well no help at all."

"Chuck isn't the root of the issues." Sasha suddenly volunteered, ignoring the dirty look Aleksis shot her. "But he is just as bad." Sasha turned away, not willing to say more and Raleigh looked at Aleksis with the hope of clarification.

Aleksis shrugged, and Raleigh left, still no closer to figuring out what was going on with Audrey and Chuck. He had one last stop to make before he was done for the night; he needed to tell Stacker he needed more potential copilots.

* * *

Stacker Pentecost stared at Raleigh, absorbing his request. "You honestly don't think any of them would work?"

"Not well." Raleigh said truthfully.

"Just because you don't have the same connection that you did with your brother right away doesn't mean you won't eventually get there." Stacker reminded him.

"I know. I also know when it feels right." Raleigh said confidently.

"Like it feels right with Vaughn?" Stacker questioned.

Raleigh froze for a beat, before realizing the Marshall meant as a potential copilot, not a potential date. "Something like that."

"Vaughn isn't an option, Becket."

"I know that." Raleigh wished it wasn't true, but he did know that Audrey would never give up her Jaeger for Gipsy, even if she could drift with him.

"The Academy is flying in some cadets day after tomorrow for tours, along with some of the private backers of the program and the press. I'll have them send some potentials, and I'll see if there's anyone else that could match." Stacker finally said.

"Thank you sir." Raleigh said with relief.

He turned to leave and Stacker added, "This is it though Becket, you don't find someone, I'll bring another team in to pilot Gipsy."

Raleigh nodded, and his stomach dropped. As much as getting back in Gipsy terrified him, it would kill him to see someone else in the cockpit.

* * *

_A/N- Thank you to all the new alerts, favorites and reviews! Even though I didn't get quite as many reviews on the last chapter (I'm greedy I know!) I loved each and every one! Please review if you are liking the story. If I get another amazing response I might just post Chapter 4 early… ;) Thank you again!_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Coyote Tango- Audrey Vaughn**_

_**Gipsy Danger- Raleigh Becket & ?**_

_**Solar Prophet- Anthony Pisano & Ricardo Ruiz**_

_**Cherno Alpha- Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky**_

_**Crimson Typhoon- Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang**_

* * *

At 0700 the Jaeger pilots stood in front of Marshall Stacker Pentecost as he briefed them about the activities for the day. "I know PR isn't a strong suit for some of you." He began, his eyes resting on Audrey for a moment. Raleigh snickered beside her, and she gave him a "what?" look

"All of you will follow the itinerary provided to you. The sooner we get the dog and pony show over with, the sooner we can get back to business." The Marshall said with a small sigh. "If any alarms sound, everyone gets to the main bay immediately." As if any of them would do differently. "Be cordial, don't give any negative opinions to the press, and kiss the donator's asses. They fill in the gaps the governments can't. You want to stay off rationing and get your Jaegers new paint jobs? You better pucker up. Dismissed."

Raleigh looked at the schedule for the day. Press meetings, training demos, Q and A's with the academy students, tours of the different Jaegers and their specs. It was a pain in the ass, but it came with being in the public eye. The pilots all made their way to the cafeteria to grab coffee and breakfast, and wait for the arrival of the guests. Audrey attempted to break away from the pack but Aleksis grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back. "Nice try." He muttered good naturedly, and Audrey gave him a dirty look.

"What's your beef with the press?" Raleigh asked after getting his breakfast and sitting at a table with Audrey, Sasha, and Aleksis.

"I don't have beef with anyone." Audrey said innocently, making Sasha choke on her coffee. "Ok maybe I'm not crazy about them." She admitted. "It's just stupid. I'm doing my job; I don't need a microphone in my face every time I do my job. They want heroes, and I'm not that."

Raleigh nodded. "It is a lot." He'd avoided the press after Yancy's death, mostly because he'd been in the hospital, but now he was worried about the questions he'd get later in the day.

"You were on talk shows." Aleksis reminded him.

"How many Russian magazine covers were you two on?" Raleigh challenged.

Audrey snorted at Raleigh's counter attack, stifling her laugh.

"Chuck is preening." Sasha mused, turning the attention away from her and her husband. The group looked over at Chuck's table, where he was running a hand through his hair and checking his teeth in a spoon.

"See, Chuck loves this shit. Why can't he just handle all this crap today and we'll worry about more important things. Like… training, or working out, or sleeping…" Audrey asked.

"You want Chuck showing people Coyote?" Raleigh asked teasingly.

"I don't want anyone showing Coyote. I don't even want to show Coyote." Audrey said.

"She's very protective." Sasha teased.

"I see that." Raleigh said with a mock seriousness.

An overhead announcement went off, signaling the arrival of the academy students and the VIPs. A majority of the shatterdome staff gathered in the main bay, the pilots of each Jaeger at the front of their crews, all military members standing at attention. The financial backers walked in first, wearing expensive suits, followed by the press, wearing much cheaper suits. The photographers were already frantically snapping photos of the large crew in formation. Raleigh stood with the Gipsy Danger crew, feeling very exposed without a copilot next to him. He wondered how Audrey dealt with being the sole face of Coyote Tango, before remembering that she dealt with it by ignoring the press and hoping they went away.

After the wide eyed students from the Jaeger Academy filed in, the Marshall gave a short welcome speech to the guests, before releasing them to their guides. They were split into smaller groups to tour the different areas of the shatterdome. The pilots were supposed to stay in the main bay and be available for introductions.

Raleigh looked over at Audrey, who was edging towards a side wall, as if hoping to melt through it. Raleigh pointed at her, before crooking his finger in a 'come here' motion. She shook her head, crossing her arms. Raleigh crossed the room towards her, intending to pull her towards the mass of people milling around, but a young cadet from the academy stood in front of him with a bright smile. She couldn't have been older than twenty, with bright blonde hair cut in a short bob, her fresh face dusted in a light covering of makeup. She was standing with her shoulders back, and head up, Raleigh couldn't decide if it was to look confident, or to better show off her ample chest. "Raleigh Becket, right?" She asked with a bright smile.

"Yep." He said, giving her his best flirtatious smile. He gave a quick glance to Audrey, who didn't look pleased about the little blonde. He gave the blonde a once over, and raised his eyebrows at Audrey who was trying her best to look disinterested, but was looking slightly disgusted at the obvious flirting in front of her.

I'm Brandy Jenkins." She said to Raleigh, extending her hand and giving him a firm handshake.

"Well you already know me." Raleigh said stepping a little closer and looking down at her. "How was your trip?"

Brandy seemed to ooze every bit of sex appeal she could, biting her bottom lip coyly. "I can't even remember; I was so focused on getting to meet you. I've followed your career my whole life." She looked at the ground shyly, before looking up at him through her lashes.

"You hear that Raleigh?" Audrey said, easing up next to him. He couldn't help but grin at her, maybe having a pretty girl talking to him was getting under her skin enough to put aside her general dislike of attention and come into the crowd. "You've had a career… her _whole_ life."

The blonde's smile faded for a brief second as Audrey's steady gaze fixed on her, but she bounced back quickly. "Do you work with Raleigh?"

Raleigh tried to stifle his laugh and Audrey's lips quirked into a sarcastic smile. "Something like that." She said coolly.

Brandy looked between Audrey and Raleigh, and then decided to ignore their reaction. "You're looking for a new copilot, right?" Raleigh nodded, and Brandy continued. "I wanted to put my name in for consideration."

Audrey snorted loudly, breaking into a laugh. Raleigh smiled over at her, noticing a photographer snapping photos of the three of them. Brandy glowered at Audrey and Raleigh dropped his smile, not wanting to hurt the girl's feelings. "What year are you in?"

"Second." She said regaining her confidence. "My sim scores are great. I'm number one in the class. I'm not asking for a handout, I just want to be given a shot."

"Tell you what; at the end of today if you still think you're ready, I'll talk to the Marshall about it."

Brandy squealed, clapping her hands together. Audrey muttered "Jesus Christ" under her breath while Brandy thanked Raleigh, giving him a hug and running to a group of cadets to tell them the news.

"Pushover." Audrey said to Raleigh.

"You never know, maybe she'll be just what I need." Raleigh said, shrugging.

"I doubt it."

"Jealous?" Raleigh teased, and Audrey gave him a 'go to hell' look.

5 women recruits came up to them and Raleigh flashed another megawatt smile, but they barely seemed to notice. "Audrey Vaughn." The girl in front stated.

Audrey's forehead furrowed and she nodded suspiciously.

"You're the reason we joined the Academy." The girl told him.

"I am?" she said, still looking at the group sideways.

"Yeah, you're… you don't need a man to make you powerful." Another cadet stumbled over her words.

"We're part of your fan club." A third chimed in.

"My what now?" Audrey asked, looking at Raleigh for clarification.

"Your_ fan _club." He repeated to her with a smile.

"It's just a website with all your fights and your kills, and forums and stuff." The original fan said.

"About me…" She said, still trying to clarify.

"Yeah!" The girl said enthusiastically.

"Um…ok, that's… cool." She said, looking uncomfortable. She looked for some sort of direction from Raleigh and he urged her on with his expression. "How's the Academy treating you?" She asked them.

The girls began talking excitedly to Audrey and she smiled, listening to them. Finally after taking pictures with both Audrey and Raleigh, the girls left to join their tour group and Audrey and Raleigh headed to the training room.

"Now c'mon." Raleigh urged. "That wasn't so bad."

Audrey shrugged as she walked next to him, but she grinned in spite of herself.

* * *

Raleigh gave an overview of how the pilots train in the largest training room they had. It was stuffed full of onlookers, and he began forming some sort of plan in his head. He grabbed two bos off the wall and tossed one at Audrey. "Who wants to go up against Vaughn?" He asked with a grin to the recruits.

They all looked at him but no one volunteered. Audrey took the second bo from Raleigh and picked Brandy, the perky blonde from earlier out of the crowd, handing her the stick. Brandy paled as she realized who Audrey was, and was most likely kicking herself for earlier.

Raleigh looked at Marshall Pentecost, who nodded shortly, and put one minute on the large timer on the wall. The exercise was simple, the two would fight for a set amount of time and each clean hit would be counted, the one with the most hits won.

Audrey gave a small raise of her eyebrows, suppressing a smile and dropped her arms loosely at her sides, giving Brandy an easy first shot as the timer began to count down. After the first shot, Audrey came to life, moving her arms so quickly that Brandy didn't have time to react. Brandy did her best to hold her own, getting a couple shots in, but it was clear that she wasn't close to the same level as the seasoned pilots in the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Stacker motioned to Vaughn as the winner, just on the off chance anyone in the crowd couldn't tell.

Audrey shook Brandy's hand firmly, giving her a tight smile. "Keep it up, you'll get there." Audrey assured her "You've got good reflexes, that's the hardest thing. Everything else will come." Raleigh was impressed that Audrey didn't humiliate the girl by gloating or even just staying silent in a haughty superiority.

Raleigh began to step forward to the center mat, planning on asking Sasha and Aleksis to show the next full demonstration, but Chuck beat him to the punch and asked Audrey, "Why don't we give them a real show?" He taunted, taking the bo from Brandy, stepping towards Audrey whose entire body was tensed. "Unless you think I'll ruin your tough girl image?" Chuck added.

Audrey eyed him up and down before cocking her head slightly and nodding. Chuck dropped the bo ceremoniously, kicking it to the side. Audrey's eyes narrowed, and she did the same.

"Jesus." Marshall Pentecost muttered under his breath as Raleigh stood beside him. "Be ready to jump in."

Raleigh nodded, and Stacker put 10 minutes on the clock. As soon as the buzzer sounded, Chuck ran towards Audrey, grabbing her around the middle, knocking her to the mat. She rolled backwards, jumping up and getting a jab to Chuck's face, and though she did pull the punch and didn't cause any major harm, Raleigh thought she might have been a little more forceful than she should have been.

The two looked like large cats, pouncing before the other had a chance to recover. Audrey kicked Chuck square in the stomach, and Chuck grabbed her foot, yanking her off her feet. Raleigh glanced sideways at Stacker, who was tallying hits on a clipboard. The Marshall shook his head slightly, indicating Raleigh let them continue.

In the last final seconds the two barraged each other with quick punches, using the last bits of their energy. The buzzer sounded and the two lingered close to each other, eyeing each other warily as the backed away. Chuck took a bottle of water offered by a financial backer who looked like a wide eyed school boy. Audrey put her hands on her knees, taking a few deep breaths. When she stood one of the 'Vaughn Fan Club' members handed her water and towel.

Stacker finished his tally and looked at the anxiously awaiting crowd. "It's a tie." He said in disbelief, holding the clipboard up as evidence. The crowd groaned angrily as Chuck threw his arms up in frustrations. Audrey looked at Raleigh knowingly, before looking at Stacker and rolling her eyes.

"Why do I think that it would have been a tie between them no matter how the fight went?" Raleigh whispered conspiratorially.

"I did not get to this level in my career by being stupid." Stacker said lowly, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

The other pilots were congratulating Chuck and Audrey on a good fight after they shook begrudgingly. Audrey looked pleasant, happy even, until Anthony patted her back, and her entire demeanor changed. Her face went from shocked to angry and she whipped around. "Don't fucking touch me." She hissed so lowly, Raleigh wouldn't have heard her if he hadn't been standing so close. Anthony put his hands up in surrender, looking at Raleigh in confusion as he backed away.

Raleigh shrugged, and motioned for Aleksis and Sasha to continue the demonstration. Audrey's moods seemed to change with the wind, he didn't have the energy to try to dissect the sudden swing.

* * *

Audrey fidgeted in her seat behind the large table set up in the large meeting room. Raleigh sat next to her, followed by the other pilots. The members of the press invited to the shatterdome were sitting in rows of chairs, facing the dais. The journalists were asking mostly fluff questions, getting their quotes for articles and tv programs. Audrey had stayed silent unless directly questions, and Raleigh suspected she would remain so, allowing the other teams to answer the general questions to the group.

"Ranger Becket?" A reporter in his early 40's asked, standing up. "Do you think you will be able to find a copilot that measures up to your brother?"

Raleigh sat up straighter, swallowing. He resisted the urge to look at Audrey. "I think it's possible." He said quickly, not adding any more. He resisted the urge to look at Audrey.

"You were still connected to your brother when he died, can you describe that feeling?" A younger reporter further back asked.

Audrey laid her hand on Raleigh's reflexively, squeezing it under the table. "I can't..." he began, gathering his thoughts.

"It is one of the most devastating things a pilot can go through." Herc said, speaking for Raleigh. "And I speak for both of us when I say that we don't want to relive that feeling."

Raleigh sighed, he'd forgotten that Herc was still connected to Audrey's father when he died. Audrey moved her hand back to her lap and Raleigh rubbed his palm on his pants, suddenly missing the warmth of her skin on his.

"Ranger Hansen… Herc." A pretty older woman dressed in a smart pantsuit began. "You and Ranger Vaughn's father were the original pilots of Striker Eureka. Was it disappointing for you when she and your son were unable to work together?"

Audrey sat up straight, looking at Chuck, who was returning her 'you've got to be kidding me' look. Raleigh stifled a laugh as the two turned into moody teenagers. It was possibly the first thing the two had agreed on in years.

"Not at all, I'm proud of both of them." Herc said.

"It's rumored there was a falling out between the two. With you taking on a father like role for Ranger Vaughn, do you feel torn between them?"

"How in the hell is that any of your business?" Audrey asked, incredulous.

"Let's stick to the agreed topics." Marshall Pentecost said from his place at the other end of the table, sensing that Audrey's good behavior was fading quickly.

The reporters went back to the standard questions the pilots were used to, and Audrey settled back into her seat. Just as they were finishing the hour, the alarm sounded harshly overhead as a crew member scrambled into the room, giving Stacker the details.

"Cat II. Coyote Tango, suit up. Crimson Typhoon, stand by on the coast just in case. Should be a walk in the park." Marshall Pentecost ordered.

Audrey's eyes lit up at the sound of her Jaeger's name, practically skipping out of the room as she went to the main bay.

Raleigh and the rest followed, and Raleigh couldn't help but wonder what the hell a Cat II was doing out there. A fresh team from the Academy could take down a Cat II in a couple hours solo. Audrey would be able to take in down in an hour, tops. With the press still in the shatterdome, they would have great footage of a Jaeger destroying a Kaiju without breaking a sweat. It was going to be a great morale booster, but Raleigh couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something.

* * *

_A/N Thank you for all of the reviews and alerts, I appreciate them! My partner in crime/beta/best friend said that the next chapter is the best one so far, so if I get bunches of feedback I'll definitely be posting it earlier! Please review!_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Coyote Tango- Audrey Vaughn**_

_**Gipsy Danger- Raleigh Becket & ?**_

_**Solar Prophet- Anthony Pisano & Ricardo Ruiz**_

_**Cherno Alpha- Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky**_

_**Crimson Typhoon- Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang**_

* * *

Coyote Tango's large fist crashed into the flat body of the stingray shaped kaiju, knocking it backwards, causing large waves to crash around Coyote's legs. Raleigh watched with a small smile on his lips as Audrey deftly fought the Cat II as if it was nothing. Finally the twin mortar cannons on the arms of Coyote began to warm up, and Coyote stepped back in preparation for the final shot. The Kaiju clambered up and doubled over, it's whole body quaking as the thin, opaque skin began to light up from within.

"What the hell…" Raleigh asked, furrowing his brow. As he turned to Marshall Pentecost to see if he'd ever seen a Kaiju behave that way, a deafening screech filled the control room from the comm speakers connected to Coyote Tango, and the cameras whited out in the light from the kaiju cut through the night sky. The screech was replaced by Audrey's painful screams, and Coyote Tango fell to its knees, it's large hands pressing against the head.

"It yanked her out of the neural handshake." James Dorian, Coyote's ops officer, said frantically as he pulled up Audrey's vitals. The pilots of the other 4 jaegers grimaced at the thought. Being removed from the handshake was painful if not done properly, and Audrey being forcibly removed because of a neural overload could quite possibly kill her.

"Get Crimson Typhoon out there." Stacker ordered, watching the vitals as intently as everyone else in the room. Audrey's brain activity was high; too high. Her blood pressure was dangerously high and her pulse was erratic. Raleigh was afraid that if the neural overload from the jaeger didn't kill her, the pain would cause a heart attack.

* * *

Audrey knew she was on her knees, and she knew she was screaming, but she couldn't make herself stop. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and she tried to breathe out of her nose, only to find that it had blood pouring from it. She vaguely thought of the videos of pilots seizing from neural overload, and wondering if that was happening.

The comm unit crackled in her ear and she heard Raleigh's voice. "Audrey, you have to get up and finish that bastard" She whimpered, trying to speak, but still unable to. She didn't want to die out here. She used to say she'd rather die in her jaeger than anywhere else, but now, hearing Raleigh's voice, she didn't think it could be time yet.

"Audrey, please get up." Raleigh whispered. _I'm trying._ Audrey thought, but just opening her eyes caused more fireworks of pain in her head.

"Audrey." A new voice came over her comm. Chuck. _No. I don't want to die listening to Chuck._ Audrey pleaded silently. Just hearing his voice made her blood boil. What could possibly make him think that she wanted to talk to him?

"If you don't get up, you're going to die." Chuck told her. _No shit, Sherlock._ She thought with a grimace. "Audrey, I know I'm not your favorite person, and you sure as hell aren't mine, but despite what you think I don't want you dead."

The words caught Audrey off guard. It was the kindest thing Chuck had said in five years. "Chuck." She croaked finally.

"Welcome back." He said, a slight hint of relief in his voice. "Now get up." He ordered her.

Audrey got off her knees, but the pain was so overwhelming she was worried about passing out or vomiting when she stood. After a few deep breaths, she was able to flex her hands, and felt Coyote respond. She opened her eyes, but the dim light seemed like a strobe, and there was blood gumming in her eyelashes. The pain was excruciating with her eyes closed. With them open, it was unbearable. "I can't." She said to Chuck, hating herself for saying it.

"You can do this. Remember that sim when they threw two Cat III's at us and when we finished them, they threw in a Cat IV. They thought we'd fail, but we didn't. That was all you. I was ready to throw in the towel, and you said that you weren't going to let me give up. You said that this was our job, and we had to finish it." Chuck paused, and spoke softer. "I'm not going to let you give up. Do your job."

"I can't see." She said hoarsely.

"I can." Chuck assured her.

Audrey thought as quickly as she could through her agony. Listening to Chuck made her want to be physically ill, but she wanted to get out of there. She wanted to see Raleigh again, and she wanted to beat that kaiju. That piece of shit Cat II. "Tell me what to do."

* * *

Raleigh watched as Chuck walked Audrey through the battle, using terminology that only made sense to him and Audrey, and Raleigh didn't like it. He told himself that Chuck getting her through it was better than her being dead, but he wanted to be the one to save the day; to save her.

"You already primed the cannons remember?" Chuck urged Audrey from the comm controls. "Use them."

The kaiju began stalkng back towards Coyote Tango as the jaeger's arms began to rise. "Audrey! Now!" Chuck yelled, as the kaiju reached for the jaeger. The mortar cannons shot the kaiju squarely in the middle, knocking it flat on its back. Crimson Typhoon lumbered onto the battleground, firing shots of its own off towards the kaiju, making sure it was dead.

"Get them out of there." Stacker ordered over the intercom. In the main bay, the guests of the shatterdome stood in silence. They hadn't heard the audio from the jaeger, and had no idea the extent of the danger, but they knew something bad had happened.

* * *

Raleigh and the other pilots made their way through the crowd to the doors the pilots would come through, not sure what they would find behind them. The press pushed against the line of crew members doing their best to form a barrier between the press and the pilots and leave a path for the medical crew on their way from the med bay.

The elevator doors slid open and everyone paused for a beat as they took in the sight. The triplets had helped Audrey get her gear off and she was in her uniform leaning against the back wall of the elevator. Her skin was paper white and streaked with blood. The overload had caused blood to pour not only from her nose, but her eyes and ears as well. Her cheeks had lines cut through the blood from tears, and her eyes looked almost dead as she stared straight ahead. Herc recovered first, striding towards her and half carrying her to a chair a crew member had sat out by the elevator. The press surged forward, snapping photos and shouting questions. Audrey looked wild eyed, shrinking into Herc, who was covering her from the flashbulbs, rubbing her back gently. Chuck came forward, pulling a handkerchief out of a suit pocket as he walked, and a bottle of water from an outstretched hand. He dabbed at her face with the wet handkerchief gently, his hand holding the back of her head.

"My head hurts." She whimpered, looking at Herc and Chuck through her lashes.

"I bet it does." Chuck agreed as he removed the last traces of blood from her neck. "There, now you don't look so pathetic."

"Thank you." Audrey said quietly, her soft gaze catching Raleigh off guard. She didn't have the energy to harden herself towards Chuck, and for a moment, Raleigh saw how Chuck and Audrey used to be with each other, and he wasn't sure he liked it.

The medics came forward, putting Audrey on a stretcher, shielding her from the crowd's view and wheeled her to the med bay to start the tests for any lasting damage.

* * *

Raleigh walked purposely towards the med bay. He and the Marshall had been in the research and development bay for hours, assuring that a protection against future neural overloads would be found and implemented immediately. Now that they were sure they could figure out a way to shield the pilots, Raleigh had been tasked to check on Audrey, and find out if there was any lasting damage, while Stacker worked damage control with the press that was lingering in Hong Kong, waiting for a statement.

Chuck and Herc were walking out of the med bay doors when Raleigh was almost to them. They paused as Raleigh asked, "How is she?"

"Sedated. They just finished running tests." Chuck muttered, walking off. Raleigh watched him leave, before turning back to Herc.

"He's… stressed." Herc explained lamely. "Doc said she should be out for a while, we were gonna go to R&D, see what they've come up with."

"Yeah, I just came from there." Raleigh told him. "They're working on it."

He and Herc nodded to each other in way of goodbye and Raleigh pushed the swinging door to the med bay open. The flight doctor was sitting at a desk in the small common area; the two rooms used for patients were behind doors at the opposite end of the room. "Becket." The doctor said, looking up from the scans he was pouring over.

"How is she?" Raleigh asked, standing across the desk.

"Preliminary tests are good." The doctor said, holding up the charts he was looking through. "No lasting damage that I can find. She'll probably get a hell of a headache every once in a while, but I think she'll be able to try the neural load tests in a week or so."

"A week?" Raleigh asked. "You told her that?"

"Not yet." The doctor said suspiciously.

"She isn't going to be happy about that." Raleigh explained.

"She's lucky she isn't a vegetable. A week is if the rest of the tests I'm running tomorrow come back clean. It might be longer than that, and she's just going to have to deal with it."

Raleigh nodded with a slight smile as he thought of Audrey's reaction. "Can I see her?"

"Sure. She's sedated, so she probably won't wake up for a few hours, I'll be giving her some more pain medication then."

"Thanks." Raleigh said, shaking the doctor's hand, and going through the door the doctor pointed to. Audrey was lying in a large hospital bed, wearing the PPDC workout uniform, her face still looked distressed, but much less so than she had a few hours before.

Raleigh looked down at her for a few minutes, studying her features. He didn't want to try to wake her up, but he did want to hear her tell him she was going to be OK. He thought back to when he woke up in an Anchorage hospital, alone. He didn't want her to feel abandoned, like he had. He sat down in an arm chair next to the bed, pulling out his tablet with all the shatterdome files and began looking through his new copilot potentials. His eyelids became heavy after a while, and he settled down in the chair, leaning his head against his fist and dozing off.

* * *

"Raleigh?"

Raleigh groaned and shifted, his neck was stiff but he didn't want to wake up. He decided he must have been dreaming and ignored the call.

"Raleigh!" The voice was more insistent and Raleigh opened his eyes, rubbing his neck as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. He looked around, confused as to where he was. As the last clouds of sleep left his head, he realized he was still in Audrey's med bay room. Audrey was sitting cross legged on her bed, looking at him, puzzled.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, watching her closely for deception.

Audrey shrugged. "Better than I did earlier." She told him honestly. "Doc came in a few minutes ago and gave me some more meds."

"I slept through all that?" Raleigh asked in disbelief.

Audrey nodded, suppressing a smirk. "You were knocked out. I asked the doc if he gave you my meds by mistake."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Raleigh questioned.

"You looked… well not really comfortable but, I dunno, peaceful?" Audrey said shrugging. "Plus I'm still a little high from the sedative and I was watching the heart rate monitor for a while."

Raleigh laughed. "And once the pain medicine kicks in, you'll start talking to invisible elephants."

Audrey grinned at him. "What are you doing in here?" She asked him seriously.

Raleigh shrugged. "I remembered how it felt to wake up in a hospital room by myself."

"Oh." Audrey said quietly, studying her hands in her lap. "You don't have to stay."

"I want to." Raleigh confessed. His confession seemed to surprise her, as she stared at him intently. To tell the truth, it surprised him too.

"Ok." Audrey said finally. She laid back down slowly, before bolting upright suddenly. "Chuck…" She said, trailing off as she lost her train of thought. "Chuck was talking to me on the comm…" She looked at Raleigh for confirmation.

"Yeah, he talked you through it." Raleigh told her with a nod.

"What an asshole." Audrey declared, folding her arms and glaring.

"What?" Raleigh asked with a suppressed chuckle.

"Now if I treat him like the dick he is, I'll look like an ungrateful harpy!" She explained. "What an asshole!" She repeated.

Raleigh laughed out loud this time, unable to hold it in. "Since when do you care what people think?"

"I care what some people think." She grumbled.

"Who?" Raleigh challenged.

"Sasha and Aleksis." She told him. "Herc." She added, before giving him a sideways glance. "You."

"Me? Why do you care what I think?"

"Oh come on, I was stationed in Alaska, do you know how many times I had to hear all about the great Becket brothers. So talented, so strong, so cute, so wonderful. Made me want to vomit." She said in faux disgust.

"Sorry my greatness offends you so much." Raleigh teased.

"I want to be as good as you." She told him honestly.

"You are." He said. "Maybe better."

A goofy grin spread across her face uncontrollably. "Of course I am." She agreed. "I'm a bad ass."

"A bad ass that's high as a kite." He added.

"I'm not…" She began, before breaking into another face splitting grin. "I'm just… happy."

"Lay down." Raleigh told her, standing up and pushing her shoulder gently back to the bed. She grumbled at him, but laid down. Raleigh turned to take his seat, and Audrey grabbed his wrist.

"You can't sleep in that chair." She said.

"It's fine, I'll probably leave in a little bit." He said.

"Liar." Audrey said, giving him a matter of fact look. "Lay down." She told him, scooting to the edge of the bed. Raleigh gazed at the empty white sheet suspiciously, wondering if she knew what she'd just said to him. "Or don't." She said, scrunching her face at him. "Embarrass the hell out of me, no big deal."

Raleigh laughed, kicking his boots off and laying on the other edge of the bed, careful not to touch her any more than necessary.

"You were dreaming about your brother." Audrey muttered.

"Huh?"

"Yancy. You yelled for him. It's why I woke you up. Do you have that dream a lot?"

"More than I want to." He confessed. Audrey scooted over slightly, laying her head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around her and relaxed slightly. "You yelled for Chuck the first night you were here."

"I can promise I was not yelling for Chuck. I was probably yelling _at _Chuck…Being around him brings back a lot of bad memories." Audrey said sleepily.

"What kind of bad memories?"

"The kind I don't want to talk about." She murmured. "Goodnight Raleigh."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Raleigh woke when he heard the door to the med bay room open. Ricardo Ruiz poked his head in, and rolled his eyes. "Cute." He muttered. Raleigh looked down, Audrey was still sleeping, her head on his chest.

"What?" Raleigh whispered, edging off the bed slowly, laying Audrey's head on the pillow.

"Marshall Pentecost wants you." Ricardo told him quietly. He eyed Audrey, and looked back at Raleigh. "I could tell him you're busy."

"No." Raleigh said quickly, leading Ricardo out of the room. "I'd appreciate if you kept this between us."

"Of course." Ricardo assured, a smile plastered on his face.

Raleigh could tell from the look Ricardo gave him that the entire shatterdome would know by lunch.

* * *

_A/n- Please please let me know what you think about this chapter, it was difficult to write and I'd love some feedback!_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Coyote Tango- Audrey Vaughn **_

_**Gipsy Danger- Raleigh Becket & ?**_

_**Solar Prophet- Anthony Pisano & Ricardo Ruiz**_

_**Cherno Alpha- Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky**_

_**Crimson Typhoon- Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang**_

Raleigh had been running around the shatterdome the majority of the day, taking care of things, and hadn't had a chance to breathe until dinner time. He glanced around the cafeteria, and nodded at Aleksis when he waved to Raleigh. Raleigh sat down across from Audrey, who was deep in conversation with Sasha. "Let you out huh?" He asked her as he began cutting into his porkchop.

"Yeah, a couple hours ago." She said with a small smile. "It's a week before I can take the neural load tests though."

"What are you doing until then?" He asked.

"Relaxing." She said with the amount of disgust usually reserved for Chuck.

"How's that going?"

"How do you think?" Sasha asked him with a smile. Audrey screwed her face up in annoyance.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep training." Audrey said.

Raleigh shook his head at her, but didn't bother to argue. Audrey's gaze was fixed on Chuck and she chewed her bottom lip as she thought. Finally she rose and walked toward Chuck.

"Can I talk to you?" She asked him, not looking directly at him.

Chuck looked at the other guys at the table with a cocky grin. It was like watching the quarterback in high school being asked out by the nerdy girl. "Talk?" He said quizzically.

"Alone." She clarified, her eyes sweeping across the others at the table.

"What could you possibly need to talk to me about that we'd need to talk alone?" Chuck prodded, getting chuckles from the table.

"Forget it." Audrey spat, storming away.

"Real nice, asshole." Sasha growled at Chuck, who looked slightly ashamed for a minute, but recovered. He stood and followed Audrey's path.

* * *

Audrey was so angry she was shaking as she stood in the workout room, walking in small circles and taking deep breaths. "Hey." Chuck said from the door, nonchalant.

Audrey stopped and stared at him in disbelief.

"What'd you want?" He asked her, slightly impatient.

"Don't worry about it." She told him, her eyes boring holes through him.

"Whatever." He said, turning to leave.

"I wanted to say thank you… for yesterday." Audrey said to his back. He paused, turning back to face her. He couldn't hide the astonishment on his face, he never thought Audrey would bring that up, and to be honest, he didn't want her to.

"I know you'd do the same." He told her, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"Yeah… I would." She said quietly, looking down. She nodded as she thought about it; she wouldn't sit back and let Chuck die.

"I don't hate you Audrey." Chuck said to her.

"I know." She said, not returning the sentiment.

"Look, I'm not going to beg you to let it go. It was five years ago, we should all move on." Chuck began and Audrey's gaze snapped back up to his.

"Move on? I can't move on! You made sure of that!" Audrey fumed, stalking closer to him.

"Audrey, I did what I thought was right…"

"What was right? Chuck you know what happened!" Audrey yelled, her face turning pink, her arms flying with her words.

"I did what I thought was right! I didn't know what happened! I know what you _think_ happened!" Chuck yelled back at her. Audrey's hand flew up and she slapped Chuck across the face.

"If you think I'm the type of person to lie about that… You should have let me die." Audrey hissed at him. She stomped past him, and out the door, wiping the traitorous tears that had fallen.

* * *

Audrey moved quickly down the hall, her head down as she muttered obscenities and blinked back tears. She ran straight into a hard chest and bounced off of it. "Sorry." She mumbled walking past, when she realized someone was holding onto her wrist, halting her progress.

"Everything OK?" Raleigh asked, appraising her tortured face.

"Fine." She said hurriedly, but didn't walk away as he expected.

"They finished Gipsy's cockpit… I was gonna go take a look." Raleigh told her. "Wanna come?"

"Yeah." Audrey agreed quickly, wanting to get her mind away from her conflict with Chuck.

They walked in silence to Gipsy Danger, not even looking at each other until the elevator doors closed. "You alright?" Audrey asked Raleigh, who'd begun shifting from foot to foot.

"Yeah, it's just been a while." Raleigh answered.

The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the cockpit. Audrey hung back and let Raleigh walk through the area, running his hand along the smooth metal. As he began relieving the past, Audrey walked around slowly, assessing the cockpit from a more unbiased standpoint.

After walking the entire area, Raleigh paused at the shiny metal wall that had been a jagged hole the last time he'd been in there. "It's like he was never even here." He said, pressing a hand to the cool metal.

"He's here." Audrey assured him. "He'll always be here."

"I'll be in his spot." Raleigh mused more to himself than Audrey, stepping onto the right side pilot's position.

"Better you than anyone else." Audrey pointed out. She glanced at the specs pulled up on the left side pilots computer. "You have chain swords… I don't have chain swords."

Raleigh grinned. "You move faster."

"I wouldn't need to move faster if I had chain swords."

Raleigh laughed, making Audrey smile and they left before anymore ghosts filled the room.

* * *

Five days later, Audrey was driving almost everyone in the shatterdome crazy. She was flitting from place to place wanting to feel useful, and she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of just relaxing and recovering.

"Who you gonna bug today?" Raleigh asked as he sat with Audrey, Sasha, and Aleksis at breakfast. He'd become a regular at their table, only fueling the rumors of an affair between him and Audrey. They both turned a deaf ear to the whispers, but never actually discussed it with each other.

"You." She answered sarcastically, sticking her tongue out.

"We are going into the city tonight." Sasha told Raleigh before looking at Audrey urging her to speak.

"Wanna come?" She asked Raleigh, trying to look disinterested.

"Yeah, I don't have anything else to do." That was a lie, he had plenty to do, like find a copilot, but he could put that off another day.

"Cool." Audrey said, still appearing disinterested, but she was suddenly smiling into her cereal as she focused on finishing her breakfast.

* * *

Raleigh sat across from Audrey at the bar they'd selected after dinner, watching Sasha and Aleksis dance to the thumping techno beat. The two normally straight laced pilots had cut loose after a few drinks and were making the most of their rare night off.

"I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this." Audrey said in amusement, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah…" Raleigh agreed, a smirk on his lips. A pretty waitress came by, speaking to Raleigh in broken English. Raleigh responded in perfect Chinese, making the waitress giggle and blush. He ordered their drinks with a smile, and Audrey scowled at him when the waitress left.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You know what." She said. "You think you're so cute."

"I'm just friendly." Raleigh insisted with a smile.

"Uh huh." Audrey said, suppressing a smirk.

Audrey glanced up at the televisions lining the bar, and her face fell as she saw herself plastered on them, video from the aftermath of the neural overload on the screens.

"I can ask them to turn it off." Raleigh said quickly, beginning to stand.

"No." Audrey said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back down. "It's fine, I just… hadn't seen it yet." She pulled her eyes away. "Man I looked like hell." She said to him.

"Yeah you did." He agreed.

"I wonder if my Mom has seen it." Audrey wondered out loud.

"You haven't talked to her?" Raleigh asked.

"No… we aren't close." Audrey explained.

"You probably should call her. She's gonna freak out if she sees the video."

"Maybe… I don't know. I guess I will." Audrey mused.

"Why aren't you close?" Raleigh pried.

"After my Dad died, she was real depressed for a while. We'd moved to Australia to be closer to him, and the only people we knew were the Hansens. When he died, she kinda withdrew from the world, and the Hansen's took care of me."

"How'd she take you going to the Academy?"

"About as well as you'd expect. She wasn't happy, but she was engaged to be married to some business man, and they were talking about adopting a couple kids. She basically told me it was her or the Academy, and I heard it as her or the Hansen's, and at that point, she hadn't been there for me and they had." Audrey shrugged rolling her beer bottle along her palms. "We talk sometimes, but for the most part, she made a new family. I like it that way. I don't want her worrying about me all the time."

"She still does." Raleigh corrected.

Audrey shrugged again, taking a fresh drink from the waitress with a small smile. "Are your parents worried about you getting back in Gipsy?"

"They… died…. In the San Fransisco attacks." Raleigh said quietly.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't…" Audrey began, putting a hand on his arm.

"It's fine." Raleigh told her, before changing the subject quickly. "Did you and Chuck date?" He knew the question was out of line, but now was the best time to ask.

"No." Audrey said firmly. "Chuck was a brother to me, and he felt the same." Her face scrunched in disgust for emphasis.

"Audrey made Chuck." Sasha said from behind them, making Raleigh and Audrey jump. Audrey removed her hand from Raleigh's arm quickly.

"Were you spying on us?" Audrey asked Sasha and Aleksis, who came around the table to sit.

"We're Russian. Spying is in our nature." Aleksis said with a smile.

"Well you aren't very good at it." Raleigh told them. "What do you mean Audrey made Chuck?"

Audrey rolled her eyes and shook her head at Raleigh. "They're exaggerating." She told him.

"When Chuck and Audrey got to the Academy, Chuck's scores were so low that they would've let him go if Audrey wasn't his partner. She whipped his ass into shape." Sasha explained.

"Oh so you're the doctor behind Frankenstein?" Raleigh teased.

"Should've let him fail." Audrey grumbled.

"We should get going." Raleigh said reluctantly looking at his watch.  
"I'm going to run to the bathroom first." Audrey told him, walking through the crowd.

10 minutes later Raleigh, Aleksis and Sasha were outside the bar, and Audrey hadn't come out yet. "I'll go look for her." Raleigh told the other two. Sasha and Aleksis were whispering to each other, smiling and giggling, foreheads touching. They waved him on, and Raleigh went back in, walking through the bar and finally spotting Audrey talking to a tall muscled American man with jet black hair and a bright white smile. He was clearly flirting with her, and she didn't seem to be hating it. Raleigh sauntered over and wrapped an arm around her waist. She looked up at him with puzzlement. "Hi." He said with a small grin.  
"Hi." She said with a sheepish smile. She'd clearly forgotten they were waiting on her.

Raleigh's eyes cut to the man in front of him. "Who's your friend?" He asked her.

"Jim." She answered, following Raleigh's gaze. "Gotta go." She told Jim, turning abruptly and walking out of the bar with Raleigh, leaving Jim staring in confusion. Raleigh's arm was still around her waist, and Audrey made no move to remove it until they got into the cab.

* * *

After getting back to the shatterdome, Raleigh and Audrey walked through the main bay, and Tendo Choi crossed the bay, calling out to Audrey.

"It's done." He told her with a smile, looking at Raleigh impishly.

"How's it look?" She asked, breaking into an excited grin.

"Good. Real good. It was a great idea." Tendo said with a nod.

"Can we go up there now?" She asked him. Raleigh was staring at the two in confusion, but no one was acknowledging him.

"Sure, that's why I wanted to catch you here." Tendo said, motioning towards Gipsy. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said to Raleigh, waving goodbye.

Audrey pulled Raleigh towards Gipsy Danger, and Raleigh gave her a sideways glance. "What are you and Tendo doing?"

"Having an affair." Audrey said sarcastically as they made their way into Gipsy's cockpit. Raleigh stopped in his tracks and Audrey rolled her eyes. "It's not a big deal, just something we came up with for Gipsy."

"Why are you coming up with stuff for Gipsy?" Raleigh asked as they got into the elevator.

"Because it wouldn't make sense in Coyote." She said mysteriously. "You're thinking way too much into this, it's gonna be disappointing if you overthink it."

Raleigh was pretty sure he wasn't overthinking it, because he couldn't quite comprehend it. They stepped out of the elevator and into the cockpit. At first glance, nothing was changed and Raleigh looked at Audrey. She motioned him into the cockpit and he walked slowly around his eyes going over everything for something new. Finally he stopped. On the wall that had been torn off by the Kaiju that killed Yancy, there was a black metal plaque with silver engravings.

YANCY BECKET

BELOVED BROTHER AND RANGER FOREVER

1995-2020

Raleigh reread the plaque several times. He'd said that it was like Yancy had never been there, and now he would always be there. He would be next to Raleigh in every fight. He looked at Audrey, who looked somewhat nervous.

"I told you it wasn't a big deal." Audrey said.

"This was your idea?" Raleigh asked her, stepping closer to her.

"Tendo helped." She said, still looking as though she was worried he didn't like it.

Raleigh pulled her into him, hugging her tightly. This act of kindness from Audrey was amazing and unnerving all at once. He was afraid the small bit of willpower he had left to keep their relationship professional was all but gone. He pulled away from her, and studied her face as she looked up at him. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew he couldn't. Knew he shouldn't. Finally, as he planned on letting go of her waist, Audrey tilted her head up and kissed him, catching him off guard. He froze and Audrey backed away quickly, her eyes wide.

"That was stupid. " She said quickly, backing into the elevator and hitting the button before Raleigh could catch her. He groaned as the doors shut. Now he'd made her think he didn't want her, and that was the farthest thing from the truth. He tried to rationalize that it was for the best and that they were better off as colleagues. Even as he thought it, he knew he didn't believe it, and that he was in big trouble.

_A/N Please Please Please Review! I know that begging is a little sad, but that's how much I love getting reviews! They've all helped me so much with the story and I love knowing what people think and I love when people guess what's going to happen! As always thank you for all the reviews and alerts!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Coyote Tango- Audrey Vaughn_

_Gipsy Danger- Raleigh Becket & ?_

_Solar Prophet- Anthony Pisano & Ricardo Ruiz_

_Cherno Alpha- Aleksis and Sasha Kaidonovsky_

_Crimson Typhoon- Cheung, Hu, and Jin Wei Tang_

Chuck strode down the hall to the one of simulation rooms eager to get some solo time on a sim. He wouldn't be able to drift, but he could get some training in. All the drama that had surrounded him since he'd arrived at the shatterdome had thrown him off his game and he needed time to train alone. His Dad and pretty much everyone who had come into contact with him was prodding for information about the falling out between he and Audrey, and he was tired of avoiding the questions.

He paused at the door of the first sim room, hearing voices. He looked at his watch in confusion. It was almost 5 in the morning, no one else was even walking the halls of the dome, and he was pretty sure none of the pilots would be up at this hour. _Except maybe someone who isn't supposed to be training._ Chuck thought to himself as he pushed the door open. He froze in the doorway when he saw Audrey sitting on the ground with the sim helmet next to her. Her elbows were resting on her knees and she was holding a cloth to her face. Her Ops officer James Dorian was kneeling next to her, talking softly.

"Get out." Audrey muttered, only briefly glancing at Chuck.

"Son of a bitch." Chuck sighed, crossing the room to kneel beside her. He pulled the cloth away from her nose and raised his eyebrows at the blood on it. "What happened?" he asked her, practically demanding an answer.

"What do you think happened?" Audrey spat back, though Chuck could tell she was too exhausted to put much venom in her voice.

Chuck thought carefully about his next words. He knew she must have seized during a drift simulation, and knowing Audrey, she'd been in this room every day. "How long have you known?" He asked her gently.

"Couple of days." She said, staring blankly at the ground.

"We were hoping it would work itself out." James told him, handing him the brain activity printout. Chuck studied it carefully. It looked exactly like any other pilot who tried to pilot solo. The neural overload had 'fixed' Audrey's brain.

"You can still handle half the load." Chuck told her as he examined the printout. "Maybe you could get a partner…" Chuck's voice trailed off as Audrey's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, that's not really an option." She hissed as she stood up to leave.

"You have to tell Pentecost." Chuck said to her retreating back. Audrey froze and turned back to him, dread in her eyes. "You can't kill yourself trying to handle the load alone."

"I have my test with the doctor tomorrow." Audrey said, biting her bottom lip. "He'll find out then." She turned and left Chuck alone with Audrey's words echoing in his head.

* * *

Raleigh paced the hallway, trying to figure out the best way to talk Audrey, when he saw her again. _IF_ _he saw her again._ Raleigh thought to himself. He hadn't seen her in any of the common areas all day. He'd gone to her room after she'd kissed him, prepared to grab her and kiss her the way he should have in the first place, but she didn't answer him, or she wasn't there. She wasn't in the training room, she wasn't in the cafeteria, she wasn't with Sasha and Aleksis. Wherever she had been, she didn't want to be found. Raleigh had given up and fallen into a fitful sleep, kicking himself even in his dreams.

He'd kept his eyes out for her that entire day, but she'd been a no show at the pilots training and hadn't been at any meals. He'd even gone to Coyote Tango, but the crew hadn't seen her all day. Raleigh paused in front of her door to her room, and debated for a minute. He didn't want to look like a borderline stalker, but he was never going to be able to get any work done with the thought of Audrey lingering in his head.

He knocked sharply, and waited. "Audrey?" He said cautiously. "I need to talk to you."

The door opened a fraction, and Audrey peeked out at him. Her eyes were puffy, as if she'd been crying or sleeping recently, but Raleigh barely noticed. He studied her as if seeing her for the first time. "Yeah?" She said finally, raising her eyebrows a fraction.

"I… I wanted to apologize." Raleigh began, before stopping to collect his thoughts.

"No I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Audrey told him opening the door further. "Let's just pretend it never happened."

Raleigh stared at her, debating what to say next. "Screw it." He said under his breath, and kissed her, catching her off guard this time. She clutched the door for support, before finally wrapping her arms around his neck. He walked her back into the room, pushing the door closed behind him with his foot.

Finally, Audrey broke away, staring into Raleigh's eyes into confusion. "What are you doing?" She asked him.

"What I should've done last night." He murmured, kissing her again. Her lips parted and he pulled her closer into him as his tongue slipped into her mouth.

"Why didn't you just do this last night?" She asked him between kisses, running a hand up the back of his neck and into his hair.

"I've never had good timing." He said with a smile. They reached her bed and her knees buckled when they hit the foot of the bed, and she fell back onto the mattress, Raleigh controlling her body to fall slowly, his pressing against her chest.

Raleigh placed a hand on her hip, kissing her neck softly. "I'm crazy about you." He muttered into her neck. He'd never said it out loud, never even let himself think it, but now that he'd said it, it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was crazy about her, and now that he'd admitted it, he needed her.

"This is probably a mistake." She said breathlessly, digging her nails into his shoulder, pulling at his t-shirt.

"I don't really care." Raleigh told her, pulling his shirt off.

She eyed his toned torso appreciatively, before shaking her head. "I don't either." She admitted, pulling him back to her.

He moved tortuously slow, kissing her belly and pulling her shirt above her head, following the path with soft kisses. He'd just thrown her shirt in the corner of the room when there was a sharp rap on the door. They both froze, staring at the door.

"Audrey?" Chuck's voice floated in, barely audible through the thick door.

"Shit." Audrey groaned, throwing her head back into the mattress. "Stay here." She told Raleigh, moving him to a corner of the room where he wouldn't be visible from the door.

"What is he doing here?" Raleigh asked her softly.

"I don't know." She said. "But I'm gonna get rid of him."

Audrey grabbed Raleigh's black t shirt throwing it on quickly before opening the door a small amount and peeking out. "What?"

"I wanted to see how you were holding up." Chuck said suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping." She said sharply. "And I'm fine." She said a little more kindly.

"When do you meet with Pentecost?"

"0900." She said her shoulders slumping at the reminder.

"Will you stay on here?"

"I don't know. Don't sound so eager to kick me out." Audrey said, shifting anxiously.

"I'm not. I'm just… I'm worried about you." Chuck admitted. "Where'd you get that shirt?" he asked, finally noticing the black shirt with San Francisco scrawled across the front in white.

"You never used to worry about me Chuck. Do me a favor, don't start now." Audrey said, shutting the door in his face.

She turned and looked at Raleigh who was waiting expectantly for an explanation for what just happened. She crossed the room to him and began kissing his chest and neck, but he didn't embrace her, instead he grabbed her chin and searched her face for answers. "What did he mean will you stay? What was he talking about?"

"Nothing." She said, looking away from him, afraid to meet his gaze.

"Audrey." He said softly. "Tell me."

"I can't." She said so lowly, Raleigh could barely hear her.

"Yes you can." He insisted putting his hands on her upper arms. "Do you trust me?"

Audrey didn't answer for a moment, looking at the floor.

Raleigh nodded, his nostrils flaring in anger. "So you'll talk to Chuck, but not me?" He dropped his arms and stepped back.

"Chuck found out by mistake." Audrey said quietly, her eyes terrified as she watched Raleigh shake his head in frustration and start to walk away from her. "Raleigh please!" She said suddenly, making him pause and look at her. He was shocked to see tears welling in her eyes. His gaze softened and he went back to her.

"Please, tell me." He urged, cupping her chin in his hand and running his thumb along her cheek.

"I ran a sim." She said through a choked breath. "I can't pilot."

"What?" Raleigh said, pausing.

"I can't handle the load alone anymore." She said, pulling away from him, turning her face as tears fell. "I can't…" The words caught in her breath and the traitorous tears fell faster, uncontrollable.

Raleigh pulled her into him, letting her cry. His face was unable to hide the shock. He never expected this. The doctors hadn't seen anything in their scans, there should have been no reason she couldn't pilot. "It's gonna be ok." He said, though the words seemed hollow even to him.

He guided her to the bed and sat with her, her tears falling on his chest, feeling like acid on his skin. He wanted to help her, wanted to make her pain go away. But there was nothing he could do. The Jaeger program was Audrey's entire life, and it was taken away from her.

"Before Chuck saw me in the sim room, it didn't seem real. I could convince myself that it was going to work itself out." Audrey said suddenly, her head still resting on his bare chest.

"You could have told me." Raleigh said softly, running his hand down her hair softly, kissing the top of her head.

"I couldn't even tell myself." She whispered. He nodded, wishing he knew what she was going through. "What am I going to do? This is my entire life."

He thought about it. Marshall Pentecost would find a place for her if she wanted one, just as he had for Raleigh, Raleigh was sure of that. But he knew she wouldn't be happy being on the outside looking in, it might be better for her to leave the shatterdome. _I don't want her to leave._ Raleigh thought, feeling selfish for even thinking it. "Do you want to leave?" He finally asked, though he was worried about her answer.

She shook her head, sniffing softly. Her tears had stopped, and her eyelids were heavy. "Maybe I can work on Gipsy?" She said looking up at him. He smiled, kissing her lips softly.

"Go to sleep." He said quietly, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. "We'll figure everything out tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning Raleigh stood in the Marshall's office while he looked at the doctor's test results in shock. "You know what these mean?" Stacker asked her, his voice apologetic. He had been just as shocked as everyone else about the results.

Audrey stood in front of him in her uniform, her head held high. "Yes sir." She said softly. She began gnawing on her bottom lip, forcing herself to not show her disappointment.

"I want you here still. You can work in the control room." Marshall Pentecost told her. "We need you in strategy planning and training too." He held his gaze to her. "You're still a Ranger, Vaughn, as long as you want to be. Do you want to stay?"

Audrey nodded, taking a deep breath. "I'll stay."

Raleigh was reading the readouts over the Marshall's shoulder, only half listening to the conversation between Stacker and Audrey. He finished the report and his eyes widened. "Sir." He said, barely able to contain his excitement.

"Becket?"

"Sir, she can still handle half the load." Raleigh said, his excitement growing. "She could work on another Jaeger."

"I can't…" Audrey began, but the Marshall held a hand up to silence her, allowing Raleigh to continue.

"She could work on Gipsy. We're compatible. She's better than the other potentials... A lot better." Raleigh began spitting out his thoughts without filtering them, wanting to get them all out.

"That's up to Vaughn." Stacker said with a ghost of a smile on his lips. Raleigh suspected the Marshall had called him into the office for a reason when he spoke with Audrey. He didn't want Audrey to be grounded, and he knew Raleigh would jump at the chance to work with her.

"I can't drift." Audrey said in exasperation. She felt like she kept repeating herself lately.

"You haven't tried since the academy. You could do it before, you can do it again." Raleigh insisted. He urged her to say yes, but he could tell she was hesitant. "You can at least try. You aren't a quitter, Audrey. You have to try or you'll never be in a Jaeger again."

Audrey was now gnawing her bottom lip so hard she had to force herself to stop before she bit through it. "I can try." She said carefully, looking at Raleigh then to Marshall Pentecost.

"Then you'll try." Stacker told her. "Dismissed."

Audrey left the room, and Raleigh began following her.

"Becket." Stacker said. "We don't have a lot of time. If it doesn't work, I've got another team on standby."

"It will work." Raleigh said confidently.

"I certainly hope so." The Marshall said gravely.

_A/N- OH MY GOSH! I was BLOWN AWAY by the amount of feedback I received this chapter. PLEASE keep reviewing and I will keep posting as often as I can! Please review, favorite, follow and all that jazz!_


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